This is a copy of my post on the church website here
This Christmas I’ve been particularly struck by the sheer scale of what happened at Jesus’ birth. Behind the angels, shepherds, wise men and stables the real importance of the event itself is staggering. In Jesus, God comes to us in human form.
The God who is wise and holy, the God who brings us freedom and hope, the God who reveals and restores, the God who is with us. All of this, born into our world, as a baby!
Christmas is a time for real celebration. Yet it is not a wonderful time for everyone. For some 2011 has been a year which includes bereavement, redundancy or other loss. Christmas is not a wonderful time of year when you are faced with sickness or death, when your finances are stretched beyond breaking point, when your relationships are under strain or when 2012 looks as if it will be hard as well.
It is helpful to remember that the Christmas story is not just a happy one. A teenage bride with a child which is not her husband’s, born in far from ideal surroundings, forced to live as refugees. The Christmas story is of how God came to bring light and peace to the world but whose self-giving mercy was rejected.
Yet Christmas reminds us that behind the tinsel and the wrapping something vitally important is happening. God is coming to us and inviting us to share life with him; enabling us to become to the people we were made to be. God coming to us as a baby, moving into our world to change it through the power of love, faith and hope.
Have a restful, joyful, Christ focussed Christmas; celebrating the coming of Jesus.
Distinct Reflections 
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